Dancing With the Stars Results: How Do You Judge a 'Dance Duel' With a 47-Year Age Gap?

This week’s Dancing With the Stars results weren’t exactly a huge surprise: R&B legend Gladys Knight, who’d finished at the bottom of the Judges’ Leaderboard, and Disney star Roshon Fegan, second-to-last at the end of Monday night’s Motown-themed performances, found themselves in the Bottom 2 couples.

But here’s where it gets tricky:DWTS instituted a new rule for the midpoint of the competition this season, where the couple with the lowest combined total of judges’ scores and viewer votes doesn’t automatically go home. Instead, last week, this week, and next week, the Bottom 2 couples must participate in a dance duel, with judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman, and Bruno Tonioli making the final call on elimination.

So how exactly do you judge a head-to-head jive featuring a game 67-year-old diva and a spry 20-year-old whose day job includes busting moves on his Disney channel series Shake It Up? In my mind, Gladys really shouldn’t have been held to the same standard as Roshon: Some kind of consideration has to be given to the fact that she’s eligible for an AARP card, while Roshon isn’t even old enough to legally grab a beer after rehearsals. In other words, judged without a curve, I understand why Len and Bruno voted to save Roshon, but factoring in that 47-year age difference, and I’d have to agree with Carrie Ann: Gladys deserved to stay.

Ah well, at least we were left with the ridiculously sweet sendoff from Gladys’ pro partner, Tristan MacManus, who said he was going to miss Ms. Knight as much as he misses Ireland during DWTS season.

What do you think? Should DWTS‘ judges factor in contestants’ ages and prior dance experience when they’re coming up with scores? Or are you a believer that the best dances/dancers should rule the day — no matter what? Take our poll below, then hit the comments with your thoughts!